Hong Kongs Central Bank Announces New Wholesale CBDC to Support Tokenization Market

Project Ensemble will “seek to explore innovative financial market infrastructure (FMI) that will facilitate seamless interbank settlement of tokenised money,” HKMA said.

Hong Kong's central bank announced the start of a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) project to support the development of the tokenization market.

Project Ensemble will “seek to explore innovative financial market infrastructure (FMI) that will facilitate seamless interbank settlement of tokenised money through wCBDC,” with an initial focus on tokenized deposits, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said Thursday.

In October 2023, the HKMA said a retail CBDC could add unique value but that further investigation was needed before a decision to introduce an e-HKD could be made.